Residents of a northern B.C. community are being allowed to return home after a natural gas explosion saw homes evacuated Tuesday evening.

Prince George RCMP said an incandescent orange fireball that was seen for kilometres around at approximately 5:30 p.m. PT was from an Enbridge natural gas pipeline exploding in Shelley, about 15 kilometres northeast of Prince George.

Hi everyone this is what I know about the fire. It is a gas line explosion northwest of Prince George, northwest of the city, around Shelley. Several emergency vehicles on scene. Don’t know cause, don’t know injuries. Will update when I do. 📷 <a href=”https://twitter.com/Dhruv7491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@Dhruv7491</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/cityofPG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#cityofPG</a> <a href=”https://t.co/pdoFC4ZGvY”>pic.twitter.com/pdoFC4ZGvY</a>

Homes within several kilometres were evacuated as a precaution, but people were being allowed to return, police said in a news release at 7:30 p.m. PT. There was no damage to anything other than the pipeline, police said, and no one was injured. The gas has been shut off.

Police said it was unclear what caused the explosion but an update would be provided tomorrow.

Speedy evacuation

Chief Dominic Frederick of Lheidli T’enneh First Nation said about 100 people from his community were forced to flee along with people from a nearby subdivision.

The explosion happened only about two kilometres from the reserve, forcing residents to quickly flee, he said.

“We sort of trained for it … because of the wildfires,” Frederick said of the speedy evacuation. “Everything was just left behind.”